


Terrifying Indeed

by Treeni



Series: Soulmate September [10]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Elementary School, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Birthmarks, M/M, Minor, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:53:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26694043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Treeni/pseuds/Treeni
Summary: Prompt 9 - When you write something on your own skin it appears on your soulmate’s skin as well.AnxceitVirgil has trouble keeping friends with how often he moves. Though, at school eight, he's grown basically used to scaring people away because he's tired of them pretending to be his friend and then ditching him completely when he is forced to leave. Thankfully, his soulmate penpal is the one constant that can't be taken from him.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: Soulmate September [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1906129
Comments: 26
Kudos: 173





	Terrifying Indeed

**Author's Note:**

> Ya'll this was the story that did not want to be written. I swear. I don't think it was the story itself. I just had a lot going on at work. I am so far behind these aren't even days anymore, just general prompts. I'm still keeping my promise to start releasing sequels in October, but I will also simultaneously, continue working through the prompt list. I guess I still rather release stories that feel complete rather than just snippets? It's just more my style.
> 
> Elementary School AU, American system. Age 5 = K, 6= 1st, 7 = 2nd, 8 = 3rd, 9 = 4th, 10 = 5th, 11 = 6th, etc.  
> Most elementary schools run through 5th grade in the US, but some run through 6th and I've even heard of some mashing elementary and middle together to run through 8th in particularly sparse populations. 
> 
> Unedited so far.

Virgil had never been a very social child. He was more likely to find the quietest corner than actually like... interact with people, if at all possible. Though quietness had always been a bit innate to him, as a military brat it only worsened his situation given that his parents were constantly relocating. It was hard as a kid to make friends when he didn’t know if he’d even be in the same place in six months time.

There had been a few people over the years who went out of their way to make his acquaintance, people who he exchanged numbers or emails with. Though there were many names and faces Virgil could remember of people who swore they would keep up with him, even from a distance, most of those names and faces were little more than hazy recollections in the young boy’s mind as they simply didn’t. Precious were the few who did.

The young boy had two contacts in his phone from about eight previous schools that he still talked to. One was a boy named Remy who he shared kindergarten and first grade with. Remy was in near-constant trouble for ‘smart-mouthing’ anybody and everybody. Virgil appreciated it however, because it was often in his defense when they were together. Though, Remy may not technically count as a “friend” given the two were also cousins. They didn’t talk much these days, but Virgil would still occasionally get full block text messages of Remy recounting everything going on in his life as if he were explaining it in a speed run. He also usually accepted Virgil’s reply of “not much” when asked what was going on with him.

Then there was Emile who Virgil met in fourth grade at his fifth school. Emile was generally just one of the nicest people Virgil’s ever met... and he’s met a lot. Emile was enthusiastic in almost every conversation he had. He really seemed to be willing to listen and learn about anything. When he was around people who didn’t like to talk so much, like Virgil, Emile was more than happy to fill the silence with terrible impersonations and info-dumping about his favorite cartoons. Ever since Virgil’s family was re-stationed again and he was sent to his sixth school, Emile began sending a text daily to check in on him, usually with a quote or reference from a cartoon in the message. Overall, a funny guy.

Virgil stood on the steps of school number eight, armed with only a pen and a list of names and numbers in his pocket from his most recent school that were almost surely full of empty promises. Most of the names on the list were people who he didn’t even become that well acquainted with in his time there, yet as soon as it was announced he was leaving, promised to keep up with him as if they were the _very best_ of friends. It was a familiar song and dance and he didn’t quite believe almost any of them anymore.

 _‘Do you think I should just throw it away?’_ Virgil wrote on his wrist, just under the palm.

 _‘You should absolutely hold onto trash,’_ came the response just beneath in gold.

Virgil sighed, nodding to himself. Yeah, his soulmate was probably right about that one. They were both well aware of this brand of disappointment and empty promises. Every person on that list technically had his number so if they really _were_ gonna keep up with him, they’d be able to message him first.

Virgil crumpled the paper and was just about to toss it in the outdoor bin when something else showed up underneath the curly golden script of his soulmate.

_‘Wait, wasn’t there that one kid who got anxious too? Was it Andy?’_

Andy was probably the third and so far, final person Virgil considered to be an IRL friend in his absolutely raving social life. They liked the same sorts of things and even dressed in similar styles. However, Andy had a tendency to obliviously run his mouth, regardless of how uncomfortable he made some people with some of the dark topics he brought up. He’d fixate and need to finish his thought. If he wasn’t allowed to for some reason, he’d simply loop every conversation back to the same topic. It was like it was the only thing he could focus on until that thought train reached the station. It didn’t really bug Virgil any, internally he had a lot of similar thoughts, but speaking them out loud wasn’t contusive for Andy to make a lot of friends. So when Virgil showed up and was unaffected, the kid almost clung to him and followed him nearly everywhere. It was... different.

Yeah, he should probably try to keep up with him. It’s what Emile would do right?

 _‘You’re right, thanks,’_ Virgil penned down on his arm after adding new contact into his phone under the name ‘Mini me’.

_‘Something that never happens.’_

Virgil snorted, now chucking the sad, crumpled paper before grabbing an alcohol wipe from the assortment he kept in his hoodie pocket. He always nabbed extras when they went to restaurants so he could scrub off the writing whenever he wanted. Virgil trashed the ink covered rag too, while he was at it. Some would say the amount Virgil talks to his soulmate is unhealthy but Janus was the one consistent thing that Virgil really had. He never knew when one of his dads would be called away for duty and it was a mystery how long they would even stay in a house. At this point, Virgil stopped bothering to unpack and simply lived out of their plastic moving boxes so he’d be ready for the next time without much fuss, not that he had a lot of stuff anyway. When you had to be ready to move as often as him, you stopped having a lot of possessions.

His soulmate however? No one could take that away from him. They wrote each other every day at basically any chance they got, from the time Virgil learned to write, and before then? They drew pictures to each other in Crayola markers. There was probably no one in this life who knew him better. Technically, Janus was his oldest friend... if you can be friends with someone you’ve never really met or even like... seen pictures of? His parents said it didn’t count, but he wasn’t sure he agreed.

Then again, what did they know? Neither of them had soulmates anymore.

 _‘Are you ready for your new school?’_ came the yellow script again. It was the only writing on his arm at the moment, so Janus must have cleaned off too.

_‘No.’_

At least it was honest. He wasn’t really at all. Starting new schools always sucked and he had the added benefit of technically coming off of a middle school, back into an elementary school. Something weird about how the grades were partitioned off. In their last residence, Virgil was in his first year of middle school, but here the elementary school ran through sixth grade. He could see some of the younger kids lining up on the side of the school and like hell if they were gonna make him do that. He had like four months here max before he either moved on to the middle school or just straight up moved again.

Getting to the main office was surprisingly easy, Virgil noticed there was a sign pointing to it as soon as he took his first steps into the building. It was honestly so weird to be in such a small school again. Over his past months in a middle school, he had gotten used to the bustle of adolescents crowding everywhere and generally causing some kind of mischief in every direction. Thus was the burden of having so many preteens in such a small area.

Here though? It was quiet, the building somehow felt nearly empty. He could see a line of tiny kindergarteners waddling down the hall. Their teacher was leading them with a single finger pressed to their lips as a sign for ‘quiet’ and the students were mimicking the gesture as they followed along. Virgil felt... oddly big for the building.

Out of place.

He used to hate crowds, but he had grown sort of accustomed to being able to lose himself in them. He could be surrounded on all sides and find anonymity in it. He could simply blend into the background as the masses moved around him. Here though? He doubted it. In his dark clothes he stuck out against pristine white tiles and brightly muraled walls that depicted images of positivity, perseverance, inclusiveness, and hope.

It was almost disgusting.

Inside the office wasn’t much better either. It was decorated by what looked like some kind of rudimentary painted art, probably finger paint. There were a lot of skies sitting at only the tops of papers, those spiky sun things that sometimes had happy faces in them, sad looking flowers that were made of three to four lopsided looking petals, and trees with blobular bits of green on them that he supposed were meant to represent leaves or something, but really, they just looked like ugly green blobs. Though, one picture did somewhat stand out from the rest however as it showed some kind of scribble monster eating someone in a crown. Virgil walked up to the desk and was greeted by a woman who seemed ungodly chipper for this kind of screw-all in the morning.

“Hi there young man! How can I help you?” She asked, perking up in her computer chair and giving him her full, undivided attention.

“Presumptuous of you to assume I am either young, or a man,” Virgil replied flatly.

“But-I-” she started, her eyes wide as her pupils constricted with sudden panic. She stood up and threw her hands down on the desk, her mouth opening and closing several times more before sound started to form. “You- I didn’t- I’m so sorry!”

“I’m messing with you,” Virgil replied without the slightest waver in his tone. He didn’t even blink. “You can sit back down now.”

She did, slowly, shaking slightly like a startled deer.

“My name is Virgil. I am here to pick up my class number.”

He said the words slowly and clearly, still holding her stare. Suddenly she seemed less afraid of some potential consequence and more afraid the preteen in front of her might be some form of eldritch deity as he continued to stare. His dad taught him intimidation tactics, and refusing to blink was one of his favorites. She swallowed once and stood from her desk again to move toward another door, still glancing in his direction every few seconds out of the corner of her eye. “Patton? Dear? I think the new student you were meant to guide is here....”

“Great!” came the voice of the unknown as Virgil stood, crossing his arms and generally intending to look as scary and unapproachable as possible.

Four months. Four months and then he’d bounce again. No reason to bother trying to make friends.

“It’s so good to meet you!” the same voice declared before Virgil suddenly found himself being squished by arms that were much stronger than they first appeared. “I’m Patton! I was asked to show you around today!”

What in the heck just happened? People didn’t just... like hug him like that... like... what?

Virgil squinted at the boy in front of him even as he was released. He was a little shorter than Virgil, curly hair, big smile and freckles splattered underneath thick framed glasses that made his eyes look extra big. He didn’t seem the least bit intimidated by Virgil’s presence.

Patton even seemed unbothered by Virgil’s lack of response and giddily grabbed hold of his hand hand without so much as a warning as he promptly dragged him from the office and down the hall that was much more colorful than it had any right to be. Virgil watched Patton glance at his palm once, before he simply took off in a new direction as if he wasn’t straight up dragging an entire person behind him. It was honestly a surprise they didn’t get called out for running.

With the speed Patton pulled him along, their trip through the near-empty halls was a fairly short one. Then they suddenly stopped in front of a nondescript door that only seemed to be distinguished from the others by the door marker that was labeled with letters and numbers that meant nothing to Virgil. Had Patton not stabilized Virgil through his grip, Virgil would have barreled straight into him with the abruptness of their stop. The cheerful boy finally released him to instead knock three times on the door, bouncing on his toes excitedly. What even was this guy?

A few seconds passed until another boy in glasses made an appearance. This one was slightly taller than Patton, a slender build with high shoulders and kept hair that Virgil refused to believe was devoid of product for that level of pristine.

“Hello Patton, I see you have finally acquired our newest student. If you had let me know, I would have been waiting for you.”

“Sorry Lo! I was excited! He seems so nice!”

What?

Virgil blinked, contemplating in what universe he appeared... _nice_ , but couldn’t ponder over it long before a different question came to mind.

“We came straight here? How was he supposed to tell you...?”

The two boys looked at each other before they simultaneously lifted their right arms to show off matching script, dark blue on Patton’s arm and inky black on the other boy’s.

“Logan and I are soulmates!” Patton declared, taking Logan’s hand within his own.

The more trim boy just gave a small smile back, accepting the excitable energy with a brow raise before using their linked hands to pull Patton slightly closer.

Gross.

These two seemed almost as bad as the pair Virgil’s soulmate was always snarking about. Though, Virgil was pretty sure he had Janus beat considering the pair even wore matching glasses. Like... who did that?

“We have one more soulmate too!” Patton informed him, still bouncing. “We don’t know who he is yet though.”

Virgil blinked, he couldn’t imagine it. “How-”

“Our third soulmate seems to have strict parents. He is not allowed to share personal information with us,” Logan informed, crossing his arms. “Patton’s parents were much of the same mindset, until we met in the first grade.”

Huh... Virgil’s parents weren’t like... super happy with how much he talked to Janus, but they never went out of their way to stop him from like, talking.... Then again, with how often Virgil was by himself, it wasn’t as if they could do much to stop him.

Logan held a hand out toward Virgil.

“It’s very nice to meet you...” Logan started as Virgil accepted the gesture.

“Virgil.”

“Logan,” the taller boy said with a nod before looking toward Virgil’s right hand, still covered by his hoodie sleeve. “Your writing wouldn’t happen to show up pink would it?”

“Uh no. Purple,” Virgil said with a shrug, stuffing his hands back into his hoodie pockets as soon as they were released. “I only have one soulmate that I know of, his name is-”

Virgil was cut off by the deafening ring of a shrill bell. He took a step back as the halls went from nearly empty to full of lines of children led by students who looked his age in bright neon sashes. Virgil took a step back until his back was against the wall as what looked to be three or four classes worth of kids passed by in overlapping lines that started to look more and more like a singular swarm.

Nope, nope, nope.

Too many small beings.

Nope.

Crowds were one thing when most of the people were your size or larger, but Virgil suddenly felt like if he even stepped wrong he’d squish one of them.

“Are you okay?” Patton asked him with big, concerned eyes, while Logan stepped to move between him and the oncoming crowd.

At least it felt like he could breathe again with that.

“Fine,” Virgil said. He wasn’t though. “Can we just... get out of here?”

“Of course!” Patton exclaimed, grabbing for his hand again. Did he have no understanding of personal boundaries? “We need to get to class anyway!”

Just as Patton tugged their shared grip, the oddest thing happened and Patton paused before he took his first step. There was someone taller toward the back, roughly around his own height and dressed in almost all black. Though, small bits of yellow contrasted against the otherwise monotone outfit. Virgil couldn’t really see a face underneath a large brimmed hat and a collar turned up. As the figure walked however, the crowds parted around him. Even some of the sashed students seemed to back away as he moved past. It was absolutely surreal, especially considering people widely seemed to ignore Virgil who was dressed in nearly as much black and was used to having a similar treatment when he started new schools.

Patton squeezed his hand, pulling Virgil backwards slightly as whoever it was passed them too without even a glance in their direction. Virgil saw that Patton, the kid who clung to him immediately, stared down at the floor and chewed his lip nervously until they passed by and were out of sight.

“You... you shouldn’t go near him....” Patton said, releasing his grip on Virgil to wring his hands.

“Patton, that is not necessary,” Logan chastised, crossing his arms.

“But Lo! He’s cursed!”

“It’s a _birthmark_ , you know this. We’ve had this discussion before.”

“But he-”

Logan gave Patton tilted his head in a way that seemed to some show of disappointment and the curly haired boy pouted before looking down at the floor in shame.

“Wait, so who is he?” Virgil asked.

“One of our classmates, he has been called ‘Ruse’ for as long as I have known him. Something about a wiccan mother,” Logan informed, steering both him and Patton toward the class they apparently all shared. “While most people in this area are fairly accepting, there are rumors that his mother puts... ‘evil curses’ on people.”

Logan rolled his eyes as if the very concept offended him.

“Not just his mom!” Patton declared. “Once he glared at me, and then a few seconds later I tripped down the stairs!”

“Yes, but you’re also not careful on the stairs,” Logan argued. “It’s unlikely he even glared at you Patton. He hardly even looks at anyone.”

“ _Because when he does, he curses them!_ ” Patton insisted, but Logan simply shook his head.

“Patton, how would you feel if someone said that about you?” Logan asked as they stopped in front of what was presumably their classroom. Virgil couldn’t really tell, it looked just like any of the other doors in the building.

Patton frowned, as if he had been betrayed by the question pulled his arms in close to himself. “...bad.”

“Should we not be kind just because he is different?” Logan asked, taking Patton’s hand.

“We _should_ ,” Patton said, pouting again.

Logan simply smiled in response and leaned his head sideways for a few seconds to rest it against Patton’s. The gesture seemed to cheer the shorter boy up from his pouty state as he smiled and threw his arms around Logan’s middle in what looked to be a death-grip. Though, Logan seemed entirely unphased, merely patting his soulmate on the head.

Virgil squinted at the pair. Was everyone here this mushy?

When Patton gave Logan some breathing room, he turned back to Virgil and grabbed his hoodie sleeve in a loose grip, “Sorry about scaring you Virgey! Class starts soon, but I can show you around the school at the end of the day okay? Just... Ruse sits in the back corner by the window... be careful?”

Logan shook his head and Virgil frowned. He wondered what this guy did to leave such an impression on Patton, who seemed to be an otherwise cheerful person. He looked like he wanted to say something else on the matter, but after shooting one last glance in Logan’s direction, Virgil watched Patton shuffle off to his seat in the front row slightly dejectedly.

“Don’t let the rumors that have affected Patton make you believe something that isn’t true,” Logan said, crossing his arms and glancing Patton’s way with a disappointed expression. “He first heard about ‘the evil witch’ and her ‘cursed son’ even before I met him. He’s always been polite to me, if a bit standoffish.”

“Right.”

Virgil looked toward the back of the class toward where Patton had said and there was Ruse, still nearly indistinguishable under all of the dark fabric and the hat. He was laid across the desk, his face buried into what appeared to be the oversized jacket he was wearing before.

“I’ve already been asked to take over tutoring you until you are at level with the rest of the class. Unfortunately, I have another student I will be working with during recess, but I am certain that we can meet after your tour with Patton at the end of the day.”

“Recess?” Virgil asked, his head cocking to the side.

Oh shit, was that a thing again?

“A half an hour in the middle of the day dedicated to time outside for exercise and a break in mental functioning.”

“You really are a nerd aren’t you?” Virgil asked. Logan looked uncomfortable at the question and Virgil cursed himself. Andy was rubbing off on him or something, he was usually never this forth coming with the random thoughts he had. “Sorry, not that it’s a bad thing, just you’re really smart.”

“Um... thank you, I suppose.”

“Sorry again... if I uh... hurt your feelings or whatever.”

Logan gave him a funny look in response and the two stood there a bit awkwardly for a moment, until Logan spoke up again.

“Do they really not have a recreational period at your school?”

“Uh, we had lunch and gym and stuff, but it was an area where sixth grade was part of the middle school,” Virgil explained.

Logan nodded and looked to be about to say something else, when the teacher called for students to take their seats. Logan immediately moved to the seat just beside Patton and Virgil took an empty seat toward the back that no one had occupied, probably because the entire parameter around Ruse seemed to be left vacant. Though, he didn’t so much as lift his head as the new student took a seat so close. Most of the class was Virgil keeping his fingers crossed that the teacher didn’t notice he was new, so he could slip in without giving introductions, however he kept glancing toward the seemingly sleeping boy out of the corner of his eyes every few minutes.

* * *

So recess was indeed a thing again. A weird thing. He had forgotten that less than a year ago it was normal for him to watch children start screaming the moment their feet touched the ground outside. For what reason? Who knew? It did help a little bit that the recess schedules were divided in half, first, second, and third graders had their recess together, while fourth, fifth, and six graders had lunch and vice versa. Kindergarteners had half day schedules so they didn’t join any of the other grades.

Even being separated out with mostly older kids, Virgil still felt... weird. Watching kids as young as eight years old climbing on a colorful playset or chasing each other around because someone was declared to have ‘cooties’ that day was just... weird when he had started to just adapt to the week-long hand holding relationships that cause _oh so much_ drama for kids as old as twelve, and that was the people in his grade alone. It was almost... wholesome.

Then he felt something bonk him in the head, only to turn and find one of the small beings he had seen earlier with a cardboard sword in his hand that he _definitely_ wasn’t supposed to have on school property, even if it was for a dumb reason. The kid had a paper crown in his hair and his hands shook slightly around the sword as he stood with his feet apart, posed to strike again.

“B-b-back you... you evil-doer! You may not be permitted to torment the citizens of this kingdom!”

Virgil rose an eyebrow at the little dork. “Kingdom?”

Before the kid could respond, Virgil felt something on his hand and jerked toward it, only to do a double-take until he realized he was indeed seeing double. The pair looked scarily alike, save for their hair having slightly different tones, though even that could be based on like... sun exposure? The pair even wore matching outfits, but Thing one, with the sword, was dressed in a red shirt with a shield while Thing two had a green one that funnily enough had a sword on it, even though he was the one with a plastic mace? Huh.

Also, Thing two was holding his hand for... some reason? Did no one respect personal space around here? When did the idea of personal bubbles set in?

“That’s what you think you lame prince! We’re gonna take over and put an evil curse on them all!” Thing two, declared, holding the mace in front of himself and Virgil.

Virgil had agreed to absolutely zero of this.

“Shouldn’t you guys be like... playing or something?” Virgil asked, slipping his hand from the grip of the what... eight year old? Nine at most, but like... a short nine year old. He stuffed his hands back in his hoodie pockets, hoping it’d be enough to discourage further unwarranted grabbing.

“We are!” Red Thing declared.

“With like... your grade?”

“The fourth graders are _boring_!” Green Thing complained.

“Look, I don’t know you two, heck I don’t know how you snuck those in either, but how about I promise not to tell the monitor on you if you take your game somewhere else? Or at least let me leave. I promised my soulmate I’d write them over lunch,” Virgil explained, already attempting to walk away from the pair toward a bench at the edge of the property.

“You TOO?!” Green Thing declared with a an exasperated groan, throwing his arms in the air and subsequently, his weapon into plain sight of anyone who looked their way.

Virgil side stepped, shoving himself between the smaller boy and the gaze of the monitor. He’d seen some kids get into really stupidly serious trouble for having toy weapons and he didn’t think these twins deserved that, even if one did hit him in the head.

“Look, I usually write Janus during my free time. He especially wants to check in with me today because this is a new school for me.”

“Janus? We know a Ja-mmhhph!” Red Thing started, lowering his sword, until Green Thing ran over to him and shoved his hands over his face.

“What’s your name?” Green Thing asked, refusing to let Red Thing speak.

He should probably do something about it... but he also decided it definitely wasn’t his problem.

“Virgil,” he said, side stepping the pair to continue back to the bench he had been eying. He could prop his arm up and keep his writing from getting shaky there.

“NO!” Green Thing declared with a foot stomp.

“Huh?”

“YOU CAN’T HAVE HIM!”

“Ree, calm down-” Red Thing dropped his sword, trying to grab at Green Thing’s shoulders, but the latter just shoved his twin off of him.

“Remus?” A new voice cut in. “Remus dear, are you okay? You weren’t supposed to wander off...”

Remus? Virgil blinked. He knew that name. It had to be a coincidence though....

“Noooooo, JJ! I don’t _want_ you to go!” The newly dubbed Remus declared, running straight into familiarly dark fabric and clutching his hands into the folds of Ruse’s dark jacket.

Virgil did get his first real glance at the birthmark that apparently made the guy evil personified and he didn’t completely understand it. It was just a splatter of dark spots that covered swaths of the left side of his face. It didn’t even look bad, the pattern was interesting honestly. The eye on that side was a more golden color than the one on his right side too. It was actually kinda pretty....

Meanwhile Red thing looked onto his twin seemingly helplessly as he stared between him and Virgil himself.

“Go? Remus, what are you talking about?” asked Ruse as the young boy buried his face further into the older boy’s chest. They could only hear a muffled _“nooooooooo.”_ in response.

Ruse just leaned forward and stood there hushing Remus softly, rubbing his back and cooing at him about how it was all going to be okay.

This was the guy that everyone was so afraid of?

“You... you’re not really gonna take him are you?” Red Thing asked, creeping closer to the pair’s side. He didn’t bury himself like the other twin did, but he did reach out and grab hold of the older boy’s sleeve as Ruse looked between the twins absolutely bewildered.

“Roman, just what is going on? What happened to Remus?”

Roman and Remus... but those names were-

“Remus thinks Virgil’s gonna take you away from us like moma’s soulmate took her,” Roman said, clinging a little tighter and leaning his head against Ruse’s shoulder.

Ruse was suddenly looking in Virgil’s direction with wide eyes. “You-?”

“NO!” Remus declared again before climbing up until he had successfully draped himself over Ruse’s entire face and leaned over his head, as if he believed breaking their eye contact would fix it. Even his hat was knocked to the ground.

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on-” Virgil started, even though it was maybe a lie. He thought he might have understood, but he didn’t dare get his hopes up. “-so I’ll just head out.”

“Wait!” A muffled voice declared, as Ruse shifted a pouting Remus onto his back. The younger boy immediately sniffled and buried his face into the older boy’s neck as he wrapped his arms and legs around his torso. Roman wasn’t much better as he moved to cling to Ruse’s middle. “Are you Virgil Tempest?”

Everything between the four went suddenly silent.

Virgil froze in his exit path and immediately turned around.

“...Janus?”

The older boy didn’t audibly answer because Remus threw his hands over his mouth, but the twin couldn’t stop him from nodding, despite his best efforts. Even caged under the twins, Janus managed to wiggle his arms out to pull up his sleeve. There on the back of his hand was the little storm cloud Virgil had doodled while waiting for class to end, except on his hand it was a bright purple, rather than the blue pen Virgil had used.

“But... they all call you Ruse....” Virgil babbled out dumbly, not certain how to process the current situation.

“Uh, it’s short for Ruslan... my middle name,” Janus said. He seemed a little overburdened under the weight of them both and shifted again so he could give into the pull of gravity and simply sit on the ground with both of them wrapped around him from either side.

“I uh... I didn’t know you had another name you prefered to be called by-”

“No!” Janus declared and raked a gloved hand over his hair. “When these two moved in next door, they couldn’t say my name right. Roman called me Jazz for a little while which wasn’t so bad, but Remus’ pronunciation was a little more problematic as he took Roman’s nickname and dropped the J-”

Remus stuck out his tongue at that and Janus booped his nose in return.

“-though I still think it was on purpose, the little demon. Anyway, our parents collectively decided their nickname from Ruslan was more... appropriate? It just kinda caught on from there. Though, when they saw everyone else calling me that, they stopped of course.”

“Does... that mean it’s alright if I still call you Janus?”

“ **NO!** ” the twins cried in unison.

“ _Yes!_ ” Janus responded, giving both of the younger boys a disapproving look. “You’ll have to excuse them, after everything that happened with their parents they’re a little... attached?”

“Dragon mom’s better anyway,” Roman muttered into Janus’ side.

“ _Snake_ mom,” Remus corrected, blowing out his cheeks angrily as if it was supposed to be intimidating.

It was actually kinda cute.

“ _Dragon mom!_ ”

“ _SNAKE MOM!_ ”

Virgil’s brow rose as if to shoot a general question mark Janus’ way. Janus just shook his head and gestured to the dotting of the birthmark. “They think they’re scales.”

Virgil snorted, shaking his head similarly to the way Janus had. The boy in front of him, even weighed down by two boys who were noticeably smaller than him, looked a tad bit... shy? He was nibbling on his bottom lip and kept glancing between the twins and Virgil. When Virgil snorted, Janus had let the tiniest smile come over his face.

Actually, now that it’s been mentioned, Virgil was feeling a little shy too.

He shuffled his feet, shrugged in his shoulders and debated whether or not he should try sitting next to the lot of them or just keep standing. He wasn’t really sure what he was supposed to do in this situation? It’s not like... like he had ever met his soulmate before or anything. He hadn’t even had one of those dramatic sixth grade romances he saw in his last school.

He didn’t get much time to process, because just as Virgil was moving to kneel down next to the three, a whistle was blown and Janus was up in an instant. The twins were off of him and each collected their weapons as he shrugged off his jacket. Janus immediately took the weapons from the two and hooked them into loops in the sides of the jacket. Once they were in place, the material was too lengthy and weighty to make out their forms even as Janus shrugged it back on.

“ _You_ gave them the weapons?” Virgil asked incredulously.

Janus just gave him a devious grin, that lasted only until Remus climbed up his back again, declaring “Carry me!”

Roman immediately pouted, wriggling his hands now that they were devoid of a play sword and Janus in general. He looked longingly at Remus who clung again to Janus back.

“Need a ride?” Virgil asked. He felt like he owed the twins something. If it wasn’t for them, who knows when they would have figured it out?

Janus and both of the twins looked his way with astonished looks on their faces. After a moment of hesitation, Roman nodded and moved closer as Virgil was about to lean down. He was a little taller than Janus, so he’d be that much more difficult to climb onto.

Just as Virgil was about to lift Roman however, his hand was yanked (again) and he was pulled a few steps away from the trio.

“Virgil!” Patton’s chipper voice declared, but it was most definitely tinged by nervousness. “We uh... we should get going! Right now! Class is about to start and... and I still need to show you the school!”

Patton tried pushing Virgil away, but he dug in his feet and snatched his hand back. Patton just shot him a look somewhere between panic and confusion.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Janus asked, stepping between him and Patton with his hat back in place. Virgil thought the effect was somewhat ruined by the smaller child on his shoulders, but Patton took a step backwards, looking terrified.

“I-I-I... it’s uh... my duty to uh... show around new students... as the um... class president....”

Virgil used the distraction to give Roman a foothold again. Red Thing Roman looked delighted and immediately climbed up as soon as he was given the chance, waving at his brother from atop of Virgil’s shoulders. He seemed especially pleased with the fact that he was technically higher. Remus blew raspberries in his general direction in return.

“Thank you Patton, but you are officially excused from your duty. I believe I can show _my soulmate_ around the school,” Janus said, simply extending a hand out to Virgil in offering.

This time, Virgil was the one to reach out and take it.

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't even get to go into King Dad and Dragon Moma's QPR. D:
> 
> Also, I have a tumblr. Same username. You can come say hi, generally bug me, or even yell at me if that's what you want. I generally keep my ask box open and I can info-dump about any of these stories forever.
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